General

Willow Flycatcher: Small flycatcher with brown-olive upperparts, white throat contrasting with paler breast, and white to pale yellow belly. Head has darker cap and faint white eye rings. Wings are dark with two white bars. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Willow Flycatcher: Breeds from southern British Columbia, Alberta, North Dakota, New York, and Maine south to central California, Nevada, the southwest, Arkansas, and Virginia. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include swampy thickets, upland pastures, and old abandoned orchards; also occurs along wooded lakeshores and streams.

Breeding and Nesting

Willow Flycatcher: Two to four brown spotted, white to pale buff eggs are laid in a neat, compact cup of plant down and fibers built in a low bush or sapling. Incubation ranges from 12 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Willow Flycatcher: Feeds on insects; forages in flight, sometimes picking insects from foliage.

Readily Eats

Meal Worms

Vocalization

Willow Flycatcher: Call is a wheezy "fitz-bew" or "pit-speer." Song is a burry "fee-bee-o", descending more abruptly in pitch.

Similar Species

Willow Flycatcher: Alder Flycatcher has a shorter bill, more prominent eye-ring, and less brown on upperparts.